Marshall the Midwife
by Emilia Henderson
Summary: Marshall is a man of many talents...but midwife? That's a new one.
1. Chapter 1

**Marshall The Midwife: Chapter 1**

**I've returned to the fanfic world after a long hiatus, getting burnt out on my first never-ending Hannah Montanna fanfic. This one, however, has an end that has already been written, so no one needs to worry about that!**

**This story is set a few weeks after "Girls Interrupted." It's kind of in an alternate time-line though, since, obviously, it doesn't follow the plot of the Season 4 finale and some of the character details have been changed. **

**I'm a birth doula and have witnessed 27 births so pregnancy and labor scenes will be VERY realistic, unlike the stupid cliffhanger season finale in which Mary goes into premature labor. Nothing gets too graphic here, but intense bodily fluid scenes are why it's rated T. **

**I don't own anything, IPS is just my muse. Enjoy!**

Mary was panting heavily, her foot tapping furiously in the passenger seat of my car, "Marshall, I said _I have to pee!_" she yelled impatiently.

"I'm driving as fast as I can; the next gas station is in 40 miles." I said, accelerating to 80 mph "Do you think you can make it?"

"Marshall, I HAVE TO PEE. Before another human being decided to occupy my uterus, maybe that meant I could wait 30 miles. Now, it means I can't even wait 30 seconds. STOP THE CAR!"

Before the car could even skid to a halt she had the door open and was waddling out as fast as she could to some nearby sagebrush. In the middle of the desert, it would be the closest thing to giving her any privacy. Thankfully, we were on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, so there would be no surprise spectator. That was a good thing in more ways than one, considering Mary's mood she'd probably shoot the poor soul who stumbled upon her.

She turned back to face me for a moment, giving me that scowl she was known for. "Keep watching me and see what happens."

I turned my head away obediently and slightly embarrassed, waiting that uncomfortable second to hear her pee hit the ground. It wasn't like this was the first time I'd been a part of an awkward Mary moment, nor would it be the last. When Mark walked out after signing the adoption papers, I became the stand-in birth partner guy. It wasn't like I didn't see it coming.

I just hoped she'd somehow be able to tone it down during the birth, but knowing her, I knew this was nothing compared to what was ahead. I just hoped I was ready for it.

I couldn't believe she was still peeing, it'd been at least a straight minute of pee noises. "You almost done?" I yelled out the window, making sure not to look her way.

"Do you know how much water I'm supposed to drink everyday?" She said, ready to give me one of her smart-mouth, hormone-induced answers.

"2-3 quarts, or 8-10 8 oz. glasses." I replied, remembering the childbirth educator talking about nutrition at our last class.

"Oh yeah," she said the peeing noise finally stopping. "I forgot you'd actually know that."

She turned around and got back in the car. We continued on towards home. We were coming from my witness's funeral. The gangster turned shaman, Carlos Ramirez, had died from a heart attack in his sweat lodge. I always made an effort to attend my witnesses' funerals, and Mary always made an effort to blame the death of a witness on herself, even if it wasn't her or anyone else's fault that they died. Now that we were driving home, I thought it'd be a good time to address that issue.

"So…" I started, trying to strategize how I'd break down her defensive barrier this time.

"I'm fine."She said turning to face the window, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, you're dandy." I replied sarcastically, looking over at her.

I was surprised to see tears streaming down her face through the reflection of my window. Mary _never _cried. There had to be something more going on here.

I pulled over the car, not too far away from our last pit stop took a deep breath, not sure if she'd verbally assault me for doing so or choose to lose herself in her overactive hormones.

"I'm guessing this isn't just about my dead witness." I said, watching the tears flow down her beautiful smooth skin.

If she was facing me, I'd wipe those tears from her eyes, even if she tried to slap my hand away. That was our relationship. She swore and fought and kicked and squirmed against my every move to show her loyalty, respect, friendship and love. After all that happened to her, she didn't want to let anyone in. I mean, who could blame her? But I was going to fight her until the end to wedge my way into her heart, especially since she'd so easily found a home in mine.

"Mare," I said reaching out to stroke her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

She turned to face me without tensing up or wiping her eyes, this had to be the most vulnerable I'd ever seen her. "When I saw Carlos a few weeks ago, he told me that he knew what I was going through and that I should really think about the decision I was making. He talked about always having my guard up and not letting anyone in, and how he hoped I'd be able to open up and let those who were important to me into my life."

I felt my throat go dry. That'd been what I'd been trying to get her to see all this time. My heart started pounding thinking of how things could change if she opened her heart to other people, could she let _me_ in like I'd let her into my heart?

"At first I just dismissed that as bull coming from a guy who roasts his brain in an underground steam cooker, but I couldn't stop thinking about what he said after I left him there. I've started to think a lot about what's going on here," she said, rubbing her belly,

"Obviously I've let it into my body, I mean, there it is. But I've been working so hard on ignoring it in my heart. I've never really called it what it is…It's…It's" her eyes started to well up with tears again "It's my baby."

I nodded, gingerly taking her hand "It is."

"I don't think I can do it, Marshall." She looked at me with fear in her eyes.

"Place it up for adoption?"

She nodded "But I can't imagine really being a mom either. All I know is, as hard as I try, I can't help but actually love this kid who's cooking inside of me. Now that I've come to realize that, I just want more time to figure things out."

"Well, the good news is, you do have more time to figure things out, Mare. Two weeks worth of time." I squeezed her hand, she looked down at it with the hint of a smile. "And I'll be there for you every step of the way. You know that, right?"

She looked back out the window, "Woah, how long have we been out here? We need to get home, I'm hungry and my stomach hurts. I've got a microwave chicken pot pie calling my name. Step on it, Marshall."

And just like that, the wall was up again. Slightly disappointed, I turned on the engine and got back on the road, heading back towards town, the sun setting behind us.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for the reviews! :) I've been debating about whether or not I should post another chapter on the same day or not, especially since I know I probably won't be able to tommorrow...I decided to give you a short one. **

**As usual, I don't own anything. In Plain is soley a muse. **

**Enjoy!**

****Marshall the Midwife: Chapter 2****

Mary crashed after her emotional episode, snoring softly in the seat next to me. I turned on some soft rock instrumental music, the perfect soundtrack for my thoughts. I always loved moments like this, the peace after the storm.

I thought about Abigail. There was no doubt I loved her, but I wasn't _in_ love with her. Not like how I felt with Mary. I hated admitting that to myself sometimes, because I felt like such a piece of trash even going after someone as wonderful as Abigail when I didn't really feel as deeply for her as she seemed to for me. But what was I supposed to do? Remain a single, lowly bachelor until Mary transformed into the beautiful woman I knew she was underneath her hard, leathery emotional exterior?

Mary turned in her seat, making kind of smacking noises with her lips and scratching her belly as she did so. I looked over at her as she did and thought to myself _Am I really in love with that?_ But I knew that wasn't even a question. The answer came strongly _Yes, yes, I really am in love with that._

I stopped at the gas station and got myself a drink and some gum before continuing on. We still had plenty ways to go, another five hours in fact. It'd taken us all day to get to the funeral, and at the rate we were going, it'd take us all night to get home. That didn't really matter though, because, truth be told, there's no one else I'd want to spend my night with but the one who was sitting right next to me.

After about 20 minutes, Mary woke up, stretching slightly and said "You've got to be kidding me."

"What?" I said "You okay?"

"I gotta pee again. How many more miles to that gas station?"

"We passed it while you were asleep."

"And you didn't wake me up?" she said slapping me across the side of my head.

"Hey, no hitting the driver." Holding my free hand out to block her next punch, I continued with the ever-so-smart retort "_You_ try waking you up. I for one, value my life, and all of my appendages."

"Well, pull over." She said grumpily. It was pitch black now.

"Take the flashlight with you," I said pointing to the glove box as I pulled the car over.

I watched her little light climb up a hill in attempt for a little more privacy.

"No getting eaten by mountain lions!"

"You seem to forget I have a gun," she said squatting in the darkness.

She came back quicker this time than the last and said as she was coming to the car "If I didn't know better, I'd think I was getting my period."

"If I didn't know better, _I'd _think you were getting your period."

I should have expected to see the flashlight be thrown at me through my open window, but it still caught me by surprise.

"Hey!" I said dodging it before it could take its toll. "I said no hitting the driver!"

She opened the car door to get back in, kind of chuckling as she lifted her leg up onto ledge of the SUV, preparing to hoist herself in. I started the engine and heard her say "WOAH."

I turned my head so fast, I wouldn't have been surprised if it spun all the way around "What?"

She'd taken her leg off the ledge and was looking down at her stomach and was quiet.

"Mare, what's going on?"

She looked up at me a little confused "Nothing, I guess. It moved a little different than usual."

She put her leg back up on the ledge, but her face changed from confused to shock. I heard a popping noise and turned again to see Niagara Falls rush down the lower half of Mary's pants. She looked up at me, the color fading away from her cheeks. I felt my stomach turn.

"…I'm guessing that isn't more pee." I finally said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Marshall the Midwife: Chapter 3**

**Thank you for all the reviews! :) Here's the next part, hope you like it!  
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Still wearing the same look of shock, she hopped into the SUV and sat there silent for a moment. I was still trying to figure out if what I saw really happened myself. "

What do I do now?" She said looking over at me.

"How should I know?" I said somewhat insensitively. "…Breathe?"

"Breathe through what? Soggy pants?" She said shaking her head at me.

"You're not having contractions?" I said re-playing every water-breaking scene in every movie I'd ever seen. Didn't women just start huffing and puffing and swearing the minute their water broke?

"Not really…" She said looking down at her stomach. "The baby's still moving."

"Well, that's good." I said still trying to figure out what we were going to do. She took my hand and put it on her stomach. The second my hand was put there I felt the baby squirm, a hand punching mine away.

"Oh my gosh!" I said, "That's amazing!"

"Sometimes, it really is amazing." She said "Most of the time, it's just annoying as heck."

My head was starting to clear up a bit as I realized what was actually happening. The words of Erika, our midwife and childbirth educator started to come to my brain.

"Wait…isn't there something we need to check for when the water breaks? It broke at 8:52 pm." I said

"And it looks pretty clear and doesn't smell. That's a good thing right? " She said looking to me for all the answers, as usual.

"Right."

"Woah," she said again, looking down "is more supposed to gush out?"

The video we watched popped back into my brain. "The bag of waters is constantly replenishing itself after it's broken; the only part that escapes is the part that surrounds the top of the baby's head. When the water breaks, there's no longer anything separating the baby's head and the mother's cervix. That means once contractions begin, labor goes much faster."

"Thank you _Stages of Labor_ DVD. How much longer 'til we can get to the hospital?" She asked me, still surprisingly calm.

"Well, if I speed all the way…I'd say…four hours?"

I took out my phone ready to call the hospital to say we were on our way but saw that we had no signal. We wouldn't have any signal until we got out of the desert, which wouldn't be for about another three hours, speeding.

"I'll call them once we have cell service again." I said, trying hard to man up and swallow my fear.

"Okay," she said nodding her head "So as long as I don't start having contractions, we're golden. I hold this kid in until we get there and we're fine." She started to breathe a little harder as she said that.

"We'll be fine." She repeated again, still breathing.

"Mare?"

"I think that was a contraction." She said

"But you talked through it, so it wasn't that strong." I said, trying to remain positive.

"It was a little stronger than a cramp. I've been having those all day."

"That's normal for the last trimester, preparing your body for labor." I got a towel from the back seat and said "Lift your bottom up for a second."

She did and I wrapped her up in a towel like she was wearing a diaper.

"Seriously?" she said glaring at me.

"You know as well as I do that we don't want to pay for damaged leather seats on this car."

I handed her a bottled water and then buckled up again "Now that we've got a plan, let's roll so we can have a baby." I said, trying to sound as calm as Mary seemed to be about the whole thing. We both weren't fooling anyone, we were using our training to sound calm in a panicky situation. I just hoped we'd reach the hospital in time.

In about fifteen minutes after being on the road again, Mary was having timeable contractions that had a pattern. They were still about the same strength as before, she'd breathe/talk through them.

"That one was a piece of cake. Nothing strong yet, we'll make it just fine. I can do this," She said breathily, reassuring herself.

I was trying to be careful as I sped down the long straight highway, I could see a bump coming up and realized it was a dead turkey, I could also see a car coming on the left at about the same speed I was.

"There's a dead turkey in the middle of the road and I don't think I'm gonna miss it!"

Just as the words escaped my mouth I heard the "th-thump-thump!" of us running over the turkey's body. The bump was enough to send Mary breathing louder and faster than before. "Ohhhhhh…" she started to moan "Ohhhhh…Marshall!"

"Just breathe through it Mare," I said starting to breathe with her "In through the nose, and out through the mouth." I said

Her breathing slowed as the contraction left. "Gosh dang it! Marshall, why'd you have to do that?"

"I couldn't miss the turkey, Mary, it was the biggest one I've ever seen!"

"Wait—Wait—Oh no…" she said starting her breathing again. "Ohhhh Marshall!...I'm…contracting. And it hurts…OHHH.. MARSHALL!"

"Just blow Mary, blow really quick shallow breaths, almost like panting." I said showing her how, my eyes on the road. "I'm driving as fast as I can."

"But I'm not ready…I'm not ready…" She said, near tears, sounding more fearful than I've ever heard her.

"Mary, you and I are in this together, okay? I'm not going to leave you. Women have babies without making it to the hospital all the time. They even have them at home on purpose. We're going to be just fine." I reassured her.

She let out a long cleansing breath, finishing her contraction.

She was quiet now and I was too, both waiting and dreading the next contraction. We were still at least three and a half hours from the nearest town, our town. What if we didn't make it?

It didn't take long for the next contraction to show up, about two minutes from the last one, but we were a little more prepared this time. I breathed with her through the whole thing, hearing someone breathe with her seemed to help. She didn't scream or wail or anything, she just calmly breathed. Taking a quick look at her, besides her cheeks being a little rosy, even her face looked calm.

"I'm going to actually do this." She said matter-of-factly, "I'm going to have this baby."

"Not right now though." I said quickly, amping up my speed to 85. "Hold on for as long as you can."

She started breathing again as another contraction hit, as she breathed, I started making up Plan B. I might have to become the midwife.


	4. Chapter 4

**Marshall the Midwife: Chapter 4**

**Keep reviewing my fellow IPS fans! I want to know what you think! Here's the next chapter!**

**IPS is my muse and nothing more.**

We breathed through contractions for about another 45 minutes. I looked at my phone about every ten to check for service, we were still a ways off before getting enough to make a call. We still had about two and a half hours at our current speed before making it home. Contractions were strong, but Mary was handling them pretty well. At her last appointment she'd been three and a half centimeters pre-dilated and 75% effaced. The book she gave me to read, _The Birth Partner_, had said that I needed to know that information so I'd asked her to tell me.

I knew active labor contractions were the 4-1-1 rule which meant contractions that were 4 minutes apart, lasting a minute, for at least an hour were active labor contractions. Mary's contractions were currently coming around every two minutes and were lasting a minute to a minute and a half, so I knew we could safely say we were in active labor. Active labor usually meant 5-7 centimeters dilation. Could she really have dilated that much that quickly? She let out a groan and I realized I'd forgotten to start breathing with her. I caught up as quickly as I could.

"Marshall, I don't think I'm going to make it." She said wiping the sweat from her forehead "I can't control this at all, it's just happening, I can feel the baby moving lower and— "

She started breathing again. That contraction came a lot quicker than the others. I breathed with her but as the contraction peaked she started to moan, it was a low animal-like sound that made the hairs on my neck stand up. This was different.

"I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE! I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!" She yelled, she was still having a contraction, kind of tossing and turning in her seat.

"Mary, blow, blow the pain away. Come on, keep going! You're doing it _right now_." I told her. "Hang in there! I need you to hang in there as long as you possibly can."

"I NEED DRUGS, MARSHALL! I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING DOING THIS NATURAL! OH MY GOSH!"

I didn't want to be the one to mention I didn't have any drugs if she wanted them. If they were available I'd use them though, because epidurals and fentenol are known to slow labor down. But there was not going to be any of that anytime soon. I turned on the heater and started blasting it."

"What are you doing?" She said "As if there isn't enough sweat pouring out of me already!"

"I'm heating up the car in case a baby is born in here. Babies lose body heat really fast and I only have one other towel in here. We still have two hours if we're lucky to make it to the hospital."

I didn't know if she heard me or not, because she was having another contraction and wailing through it instead of breathing. I was too overwhelmed to calm her down. She wasn't really focused anymore, it seemed like she was in another world. She stopped wailing for a moment and gasped in a huge breath of air and held it. I tried to look at her out of the corner of my eye. Was she pushing? My question was answered quickly as I heard her puke up all of her funeral food. Realization hit me: This was transition. Transition was the hardest part of labor and usually included throwing up, being shaky and burpy and emotionally overwhelmed by the strongest contractions with no break in between. It usually meant someone was 8-9 centimeters. It was hardest part of labor, but it was the fastest. Once contractions spaced out a bit, she would be completely dilated to 10 centimeters.

There was still a good two hours between us and home at least. She'd be lucky to have the baby in the emergency room parking lot let alone the hospital. But something told me we weren't going to make it.

She ripped her seatbelt off at the next contraction and put her hands under her bottom and was breathing up towards the sky. She was fighting the force of the contractions within her with all she had. It was hard to see her in this much pain, worse than after she'd been shot and she wasn't breathing.

"Mare, listen to me: this is transition. This is the hardest part of labor, but it's the fastest. You're not going to face anything harder than this, just focus on my voice, you can do this, you can do this, you can do this, Mary…. Mary, I love you…You can do this."

…_Did I really just say that out loud?_

She was blowing so intensly, hopefully she hadn't heard me. A sign showed home to be 80 miles away. 80 miles.

"Baby is moving lower again…Ohhhhhhhhhh! MARSHALL….PRESSURE." She blowed so hard and fast that you'd think the roof would come flying off the car.

I knew one thing right there. We weren't going to make it to the hospital, but I was going to try my best to get as close as I could to make a phone call. There was no way I was going to deliver a baby in this car without direction.

"Ooooooo….Oooooo….Ooooo." She said, tears streaming down her face "Why does it have to happen this way?" She slapped the front of the car hard and burped a few more times. Then, everything was quiet.

"What's going on?" I asked her.

"I don't know…"She said sounding exhausted. "Oh no."

I expected to hear the sounds of another contraction. When I didn't, I looked over at her. "I have to poop." She said.

My hands started to shake a little on the steering wheel. "Mary, you don't need to poop."

"Yes I do," she said beginning to breathe through a slightly less intense contraction.

"No, you don't. You need to push." I said

"Oh," She said, her eyes widening with the realization, "You're right."


	5. Chapter 5

**Marshall the Midwife: Chapter 5**

**Sorry it's taken me so long for me to update! Are you ready to witness a birth? Because I think someone's about to have a baby! ;) (T rating warning!)  
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**IPS is a muse. I'm sick of saying I don't own them. Why do people say that anyway?**

"Mare, if I can get 10 minutes closer, then I can make a phone call. I just want to try to reach someone at the hospital so I don't screw up delivering your kid." I said, my heart beating in my ears, my stomach feeling as if it could jump out of my mouth at any second.

She gave a strange growling noise again and was panting. "I think I need to take my pants off now."She said

Even though the car was still in motion, I heard her fiddle with the button and the zipper and remove her pants and underwear. She wrapped the towel over herself like a skirt.

She continued to make funny noises, and I knew funny noises was all she could do to keep the baby from coming.

The car was built up with tension and I found myself praying: "_God, I know that I don't do this much, but I need you. Mary needs you. Please be with us, protect us and protect her. I'd blame myself the rest of my life if anything happened to her and/or the baby. Even though I don't ever really do anything about you, I believe in You. And I believe you'll help us. Amen."_

We got to the point where I usually get cell service and I looked down at my phone but still didn't see any service. We got up to a hilltop that overlooks the city about an hour out and instead of seeing a lights of the city, everything was pitch black.

"What the heck?" I said ""Is there no electricity in the whole state of New Mexico?"

"Okay, Okay, Okay, OKAY, OKAYYYY!" Mary said in increasing octaves, "I _really_ can't do this anymore! WOAH...woah, the baby is coming! WOAH WOAH! Marshall! Marshall I— "

She was grunting now and I knew she was pushing this time. The car skidded to a stop and I jumped out of the car running to the trunk where the first aid kid was. I'd just remembered I had it! I opened up the passenger's side of the car and picked her up, "Mare, everything is going to be okay." I said in a new gentle voice I didn't know I had, moving her to the back seat where there was more room. There were actually gloves in the first aid kit and I put them on as quickly as I could. Her contraction had just stopped, and she laid her head back and closed her eyes, taking a moment to rest.

"Mare, I remember something the childbirth educator said about bad things happening if you try to push and you aren't 10 centimeters. I know 10 centimeters is usually when all you can feel is the baby's head. Is it ok if-?"

Before I could finish she was nodding. Without removing her towel, I did my best to check her. I knew I was in dangerous territory, and it wasn't like I really wanted to be there any longer than I needed so I was extremely careful. Checking her caused her more pain and she had to blow through it, but it only took a second to determine that all I could feel was the baby's head.

"Does it's head feel like freakin' watermelon? How the heck am I going to push that thing out of my body?"

"All I felt was head, it was kind of creepy, but I know what I felt." I racked my brain trying to know how to explain to push. "I remember she said you want to bear down like you're going to do the biggest poop in your life. You take a deep breath and hold it— "

Before I could finish explaining, another contraction was on it's way. Mary didn't need any coaching on how to push. I was learning birth was very instinctual, and Mary was known for her good instincts. The way she pushed wasn't like the movies either, her face never turned that scary shade of purple and her eyes didn't bug out of her head. She was calmer than before, and pushed with good effort. She didn't look like a hideous mess, either. Sure, her makeup was smudged and she was sweating, but her cheeks were flushed in kind of a permanent blush and she almost looked like she was glowing. Maybe I was starting to see how giving birth could be beautiful.

She did the same thing again, but nothing really happened. The childbirth educator had told us that pushing sometimes takes hours, but I really didn't want to be here if we could be at the hospital.

"Mare, I'm gonna just check something one more time." She nodded her approval.

"When you have a contraction, I want you to just push while I'm like this."

Another contraction started up again and she pushed and I felt the baby move down. The baby was moving, and it was at a pretty good rate. It was best to just stay here and have the baby after all. I was trying to think of what could go wrong so then I could fix the problem before it happened, but I couldn't really think of anything and knew if that happened God would give me the instincts I needed, I'd prayed to Him after all.

She pushed even harder during the next contraction "Ooh that burns!" she said blowing a little. "What's going on?"

I gently lifted up the towel to see and could see the baby's head was starting to become visible.

"I can see the top of the baby's head." I said, a lump forming in my throat. I was overwhelmed by the connection I felt with that baby even though it wasn't mine.

"Ok, Ok, more burning." She said after giving another tiny push. The baby was starting to slip back up because she wasn't pushing.

"No no, Mare. You gotta push as hard as you can right past the burn. Next contraction you do that, okay?"

The next contraction came and she pushed harder, I could see even more of the baby's head, the whole forehead in fact. When the stopped pushing, the baby didn't slide back, she just kept panting.

I supported the head, I didn't want the baby to fall out. "Okay Mary, give another push when you can."

She pushed again, causing the whole head to come out, but it was obvious the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. She let a little shout, but then got right back to pushing, even harder than before.

"Hold it! Hold it!" I said, thinking about what I should do. I tested the cord for a second and saw it was really loose, so I just unwrapped it from the baby's neck. The whole face was out now. "I think this baby has your lips, Mary. The head is the hardest part, and it's out."

"GET THIS BABY OUT OF MEEEE!" She said loudly as she bore down again.

She meant it this time because she pushed stronger than any of the other times. Almost gracefully, the baby slowly slid out into my hands. Everything from that point on seemed to go in slow motion. The baby cried and got pink right away, Mary cried and got pink right away. I remembered Erika saying that the best way to keep a baby warm is skin to skin against it's mother, so working solely on adrenaline, cradling the bloody newborn in my elbow, with it's cord still attached, I started to unbutton Mary's shirt.

"EXCUSE ME?" She said, slapping my hand away "I know you've just about seen it all, but REALLY doesn't give you free range, buddy."

"Oh sorry! Skin-to-Skin keeps the baby the warmest." I said,

"Of course it does." She said, rolling her eyes.

I let out a little smile. My Mary was back, so that had to mean I did something right.

I plopped the baby down on her chest, as it continued to cry. I also wrapped the emergency blanket around the two of them, covering the baby as much as I possibly could. The heater was still on, so that would help keep it warm too.

"Wait, Marshall." Mary said softly. "Can you please tell me if I had a boy or a girl?" Looking into her eyes, they were sparkling like I'd never seen before. She looked more beautiful to me there in that moment than any other moment I'd seen her.

"Marshall?"

"Oh yeah," I said lifting the blanket up so I could get a look.

"It's a boy!" I choked out, surprised by how emotional I felt. She gave a beaming smile down at her baby. "I thought so," was all she said.

My mind was working a million miles a second trying to think of what needed to be done to make sure I kept Mary and the baby safe and healthy until I could get them to the hospital. I saw now that she bleeding a little, it wasn't a lot, but it was bright red. She was talking to her baby and interested in him. And the cord was still attached, how was I going to cut that? Did I need to cut that? The placenta would also be coming soon, how was I going to deal with that?

In the emergency first aid there were sterilizing pads, and I had a pocket knife connected to my key chain that had scissors on it that I rarely used. I sterilized the knife and cut the cord with that using a piece of string to tie the cord. I pressed on her abdomen to stop the bleeding, rubbing it in circles like I'd seen in _The Stages of Labor_ DVD.

"OUCH!" She said grabbing onto my wrist "There's not another one in there, is there?"

"No this will just help you not lose any more blood." I told her as she eased her grip and let me press her stomach.

Slowly the trickle started to fade away until she wasn't losing that much blood at all.

"Can we head to the hospital now?" She said

"Almost." I replied "Do you feel like you need to push again?"

"Why would I need to push again? Shhhh, it's okay." She said rubbing the back of her new crying baby. "Oh wait…"She started to breathe like she was having another contraction.

"There it is." I said "Mare, just push one more time, this is the placenta."

She pushed while holding her baby protectively on her chest. I raced around trying to find something to put the placenta in and found a bag that Mary had used to bring home leftover food from the funeral. That would have to do.

The placenta came out no problem, and after fiddling with it (with my gloves on of course) I couldn't see any parts of it that were missing, but I was no doctor. That was what she and the baby needed now more than ever.

"I want you in the front so I can see you." I told her. "How's your baby doing?"

She smiled down at him and said "He's still breathing, he looks…good, actually. Pretty much the cutest baby I've ever seen. I have a son!"

"I want you to hold him good and tight, I'm going to carry you both back into the front seat. If you start feeling heavy bleeding at any moment I need you to tell me and I will pull over again.

She nodded sleepily,

"No sleeping yet either. I know you just went through hell, but I want you awake just until when we get to the hospital, just to be on the safe side."

She nodded.

I carried her back to the front seat and sat her down, buckling both her and her baby in. She looked over at me and smiled weakly. "Thank you." Tears forming in her eyes.

Without thinking, I planted a kiss on her temple. "Good job, Mare." I said, with a smile of my own.

Within minutes, we were back on the road. Except this time, there were three of us.


	6. Chapter 6

**Marshall the Midwife: Chapter 6**

**Thank you for all the reviews! :) The reason why that childbirth scene was so realistic is because I work as a birth doula, or professional labor coach. I have witnessed 27 births, and a lot of times they are very different than the way T.V./fanfiction portrays them. I tried to make it as realistic as possible without giving you ALL the details!**

**The last two chapters are short, but totally worth it! Keep reading! :)**

After about 15 minutes on the road, I finally got a signal on my cell and called 9-1-1.

"Yeah, we had a city-wide power outage after a cell tower toppled over into a power plant. It's been crazy here since then." The 9-1-1 dispatcher said.

"Well, we just had a baby on the highway." I said as the little one cried to help with the credibility of our story.

The dispatcher was quick to ask me many important questions and said "It sounds like you're lucky and everything is okay. There's an ambulance on its way to meet you on your way here. The paramedics can start giving her and the baby the care they need before you get to the hospital.

A cop car and ambulance came to meet us on the road at around midnight.

While Mary and the baby were getting care in the ambulance, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Abigail with tears in her eyes. She was there with her partner in the cop car. I gave her a hug and said "Babe, are you okay?"

She was sobbing in my already soaked shirt. "I—I didn't know wh-what to thi-think… I th-thought…" her sobs were gut-wrenching "I was afraid… When the call came through I-I-"

"Hey, hey." I said lifting up her chin to look at me "I'm fine. We're fine. It's only by the grace of God that we really are fine, but we are. I'm sorry that I scared you. I was checking my cell every ten minutes to see if there was service and once everything happened, all I could think of was to call 9-1-1."

"I'm so happy you're okay." She said, hugging me one more time.

"Me too." I said, "I'm going to go with Mary in the ambulance to the hospital, okay? I'll meet you there? And can you call the others and let them know what's up?"

"Are you sure you don't want to just ride with me? I got you coffee. I figure a guy who's just delivered a baby needs some coffee."

"I've got to be here for Mary right now." I said "She just went through something completely overwelming on every level, she's my partner and she needs me."

"I understand." She nodded, wiping her nose and sniffling. I hopped into the back of the ambulance shutting the door on Abigail's face and turning to Mary's.

I knew now that things would never be the same between us agian.


	7. Chapter 7

**Marshall the Midwife: Chapter 7**

**This is it! I spent my weekend helping with the birth of a beautiful baby girl, so that's why it's been so long. Please review this and let me know if you liked it! I can't believe I'm actually finishing it! Thank you all!  
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"This is pretty amazing for a stand-in midwife." Erika said as she did her examination of the placenta.

"The placenta is intact, she didn't tear or hemorrhage, the baby is great. It almost makes me wonder why babies are born in hospitals. Great job, Marshall."

"Thank you, ma'am." I said nodding respectfully "In all honesty, it was your words that helped me do what I did. I just kept thinking of things you said."

"That sounds to me like someone else was helping you out, Marshall. Someone a lot bigger than me. A man listening to what I say, especially an expectant father, is a miracle."

"Oh you don't know Marshall." Mary said

"I'm not really the father…" I said awkwardly

"Well, you're probably the God-father, I mean you literally helped bring the kid into the world." She finished writing up some stuff on Mary's chart and turned toward Mary. "Once we've got you rehydrated with fluid, we'll move you up to postpartum. Once in postpartum, you can see your family and adoption facilitator."

A nurse went over to Mary who was filling out paperwork and asked "Do you have a name picked out for him?"

She looked at him as he slept in her arms and then looked up at me and smiled, "His name is Marshall."

"What?" I said swallowing in surprise

"You heard me." She said, something that almost looked like a blush was creeping into her cheeks. "Marshall James Shannon is his name."

"Wow." I said completely stunned. "Thank you."

Everyone left the room shortly after that, leaving the three of us alone. I sat down in a chair next to her bed and watched as the baby, Marshall, started to wake up a little.

"Do you want to hold him?" Mary asked.

"Yeah," I said gently taking him from her arms.

He looked up at me, his eyes wide open and I just looked right back at him. "Hey little man," I said smiling "The last time I held you, you were still wet and warm…now you're just warm."

He yawned and smacked his lips a bit fidgeting into a comfortable position.

"Thank you, Marshall. Thank you so much." Mary said, touching my shoulder. "I don't know what I would do without you."

I looked at her, locking eyes with her. I just wanted to kiss her right then and there and it took everything within me to restrain myself. Forcing myself to look away from her, I gave her back the baby that had already taken a special place in my heart. I pushed reality back into my hazy loving perfect picture. Mark was the father of this baby, not me. And it'd looked like he and Mary were close to reconciling, if they did, it wouldn't work to have the baby named after me.

"I know you're grateful Mare, but you don't have to name your baby after me. I mean, what's Mark going to think?" I said

She looked down at the baby, and I could see in her eyes she'd forgotten about Mark. I knew her too well. The wheels of her brain were moving and she was thinking, trying to cover up that vulnerable part of her heart she'd just opened up. Then she looked down at her baby again, and I saw for the first time in a long time, peace in her features. She wasn't going to run this time.

Looking at her son only, she said softly "I wanted to name him after the man I'm in love with."

"Oh," I said so tired that I was falling asleep. I replayed what she said again in my head and my eyes shot open. "OH."

"I love you, Marshall." She said her eyes now on mine. "I know it's bad timing with Abigail and Mark and all, but I had to tell you. Especially after tonight."

"Mary," I started the breath being knocked out of me. It felt like fireworks were being let off in my body. I turned to her and looked down to see her unsure smile and quivering lip. She was hoping I felt the same way. It was like that hard layer of her heart had just been uncovered in the release of those words, and I loved her all the more for it.

"Mary," I continued. "It's never been good timing. But that doesn't change the fact that I have been in love with you since the day we became partners. I will always be here for you, and for Marshall. I've been just killing time hoping that this would happen, that you'd feel the same way about me and be ready to take that step. I think you are the most beautiful woman on the earth."

"Well right now I'm not." She snorted, relief flooding back into her features as she tried to keep her cool.

"_Especially_ right now." I replied, stroking her golden hair.

Then I kissed her and she kissed me, and I knew that tonight was not only the birth of Marshall James Shannon, but it was also the birth of a new family.

And just as life always had been since meeting Mary Shannon, things were messy. But, just like childbirth, the messiness was beautiful. And I knew that as long as we were together, that beauty would only grow and grow into something better than even I could imagine.

FIN


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